to visit Washington, where we met with a most kind reception from my old friend Mr. Vaughan, under whom I had passed a year of my life, when attached to the Embassy of Sir Henry Wellesley at Madrid.
Washington is but little worthy of the reputation which it enjoys. It is the mere skeleton of a great town; and the houses being mostly built in the style of the architecture by which our own country is so much disfigured, with high gable ends, small doors, and cross lights in every direction, there is little to see, and less to admire. The real capitals of the United States are the great commercial cities, and of these the Americans may justly be proud. We passed through Philadelphia and Baltimore on our way, and in both these places, as well as in New York, we found ample proofs of an active, thriving, and powerful country, abounding in energy and wealth, and only requiring to be known in order to be duly appreciated. I will not fall into the error, so common amongst travellers, of passing judgment upon an empire, after a week's examination of its resources; but I will say, that those writers who have fostered the prejudices generally entertained in England with regard to American manners, and in particular as to their individual feeling towards ourselves, have rendered both countries a very great disservice. Captain Vernon and I found our character as Englishmen, sufficient to ensure us both civility, and attention, from our very numerous fellow-passengers on board the steam-boats, in which a great part of
